Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I've just started a new site, and wanted to share some thoughts on implementing oft-quoted advice to newbies here.
The advice given in this forum to new webmasters is usually along the lines of "Write about something you know about - don't go for keywords". But one thing lacking in such threads is that nobody ever seems to come up with examples. I guess that's mainly because they don't want others to exploit the niche they have found. But just to be different, I'd like to post a practical example of how the groups advice can work.
I know that the keyword and arbitrage method is one way of making Adsense work for you, but my personal belief is that this is not a good long term strategy. Google may fall out of love with this method, and all it's doing is adding yet more junk to the web that's difficult to monetise. Making a site with good content is what most webmasters here believe is the best way of making an income from advertising in the long term. Good content is easier to monetise - that may be by Adsense, other advert networks or selling ads direct yourself.
I've often said here that the niche should suggest itself to you. That's what happened to me. Recently a freind from the US decided to plan a visit to the area where I live, and due to work commitments and a family wedding he wanted to do some exploration of the area for a couple of days before coming here. So I was looking round for websites that had various bits of essential information for a visitor from another country.
The area where I live is very popular with tourists. I noticed that pretty well all the official tourist sites just listed their town and attractions within a 10 mile radius. The county council website isn't geared up to giving out tourist info other than the local tourist information offices - it's more concerned with detailing local information such as what day the recycling bins are collected.
What I was looking for was a site that had a basic overview of the county. How to get to it from London Heathrow by public tranport, how to get around the area if you weren't planning on hiring a car (the rest of the world apart from us and a few other sane countries drives on the wrong side of the road ;) ), and a general list of places to go.
So I decided that although there was a lot of tourist info on the area, the thing that was missing was a site that catered specifically for visitors from other countries. Hey presto - niche found! Put together all the information someone from overseas might need to plan a visit to the area, and add information that only a local can provide such as places off the beaten tourist track, best places to park the car, diary of events in the area and so on.
The site is in the early days of construction, but so far it's looking worthwhile. I've decided to use Adwords to get some traffic, as I figured there wouldn't be any search engine traffic appearing for a while - especially as at the moment the content is very much under construction. At the moment, Adwords seems to be working. I'm in profit by about 20%. I figured that there are just so many other sites advertised with no content, that even if my pages were under construction at least I had SOME useful content!
Although I see myself using adwords to get some traffic, I've never managed to make a profit out of arbitrage, and I don't see it as anything other than a way to get some initial traffic. I think content is a fatal flaw in the arbitrage method. IE if you have any, don't bother with arbitrage. Adwords will probably help to some extent, but I don't see it making a profit.
I'm hoping that the content will get picked up on by search engines, and when I'm at the point of having a worthwhile site I'm going to go about trying to exchange links etc. I have to say that although all I've done is to submit the URL to Google, search engine traffic currently accounts for a good half of the traffic I've had so far. Most of it's coming from the US - the place I had in mind when I started the site.
I don't know how this is going to work out in the future. It might be a dead duck, it might make me loads of money. Thankfully the initial search engine traffic I've got without even trying has inspired me to keep up with the project. It's going to be a lot of hard work, but at the end of the day I'm hoping to have a great site that will do well for me financially. I'm also hoping to monetise it in other ways apart from Adsense.
Care to share your thoughts?
I have to say that so far the ads are well targeted. To date I've virtually completed a page about the region's beaches, and a couple of pages about transport to and around the area. There is also a gallery page of digital photo's I've taken on my travels (handly little resource :) ) and all are showing relevant, quality ads apart from one dating ad. However, I'll let that one slip through the net.
I've not seen any MFA's as yet. Maybe the travel sector isn't viewed as a high paying keyword, so doesn't attract the MFA's my main niche site does.
It's early days as yet, but I'm hopeful the initial good indicators continue.
I have to say that so far the ads are well targeted.
As long as the advertisers you see are also advertising in the United States. There may be advertisers geo-targeting North America and not even showing up in the UK, which you may not be aware of. Bottom line, it's the ads showing in North America, since that's your target, that will matter, not the ads you see in the UK.
I know that the keyword and arbitrage method is one way of making Adsense work for you, but my personal belief is that this is not a good long term strategy.
Arbitrage became difficult about 12-18 months ago. I think your approach to PPC as another channel for growing traffic is a good strategy.
Too many people, for whatever reason, are afraid of investing money into advertising their site. I can never figure that one out. Growing presence, having web surfers used to seeing your name around, is a part of marketing and growing it.
As long as the advertisers you see are also advertising in the United States. There may be advertisers geo-targeting North America and not even showing up in the UK, which you may not be aware of. Bottom line, it's the ads showing in North America, since that's your target, that will matter, not the ads you see in the UK.
Oh bugger - another hole in my plan to dominate the world (sorry - just been watching Dr. Who. David Tennent is superb, shame you yanks are still on Ecclestone).
Just looked at the preview tool and via a proxy, and the ads look fine. I've even seen my own ad! Although I'm thinking of US visitors when writing content, I'm aiming it at people from outside the area. They might be from elsewhere in the UK, or the EU as well as the US.
I started SEOing a few years back in a field that, today, is completely unrelated to my work.
One day, I started a site about my city (a popular destination in my country, but nothing compared to the major cities in UK). I didn't expect much of it (Adsense didn't exist at the time).
Today, my site is #1 for my keywords (and gets those extra links that Google seems to reserve to the authority sites). I completely abandoned by old "niche".
I enjoy what I do. I (and my family) visit places, restaurants, hotels, all for fun (on top of my daily job, that I plan to quit soon). I write about the people and things I see, and the places I go to - more than work, that's fun for me. I know that people find what I write useful (they write to me telling so).
To me, it's the best combination in the World of: doing what I like; being useful to other people; making money in the process.
I am certain that you will have a successful site in some time, and you will have lots of fun out of it.
I'm starting niche site based on traffic patterns to my current site. My current site is a magazine, but one portion of it gathers a lot more traffic than others. I realized that even though people like the magazine, they like this portion even more.
